MALABAR REBELLION (1921)

The Malabar Rebellion was an important episode in the history of freedom
movement in our country.It may be considered as a turning point in the history of Kerala
as all further developments in the national movement in Kerala bore the marks of the
Rebellion.As it seriously disturbed the relationship between the Hindus and Muslims in
Kerala and cast a shodow of gloom over the whole freedom movement, it has been viewed
as the most tragic episode in our freedom struggle. It is so-called as the Malabar rebellion
because the chief area of the disturbance was in Malabar.It is called as the Moplah
rebellion because most of the participants belonged to Mappila community. As it was an
outburst against the British imperialism it has been invested with the halo of a revolt or
rebellion. As it aimed at the expulsion of the British rule at least insome areas. It becomes
part of the freedom struggle.
The nature and character of the Malabar upheaval is a point of controversy among
historians.There are broadly three views about the origin and character of the
Rebellion.According to the nationalist school of historians; it was an anti-imperialist
struggle, a political uprising of the mappilas against police repression. According to the
Marxist school of thought, it was an agrarian outbreak, purely economic in nature. As the
Mappila tenants were oppressed by the Hindu Janmis and the British officials, the tenants
rose in revolt.The third school of thought regard the upsurge as a communal flare up or
rather an outburst of religious fanaticims.The atrocities were committed by the Muslims
and the victims were the Hindus.In fact the Rebellion was the result of the combined
operation of political, economic and communal factors.It was at once anti British, agrarian
and communal.

The underlying causes of the outbreak were political, social and ideological.The
policy of repression adopted by the British government against the non co-operators
including the Khilafatists was an important reason.The Moplahs reacted violently against
the police oppression.The social cohesion of the Moplahs as the community, their militant
tradition and organisational skill also caused the upheaval.The Hindu Muslim
misunderstanding and the ideological factors and political aspirations of the rebels also
resulted in the outburst.
The events that paved the way for the rebellion are mainly political. When the
Turkish Sultan was deprived of his authority as Caliph.Gandhiji started the Khilafat
movement in India in order to bring the Indian Muslims to the nationalist cause.In
Malabar, the Khilafatists had their stronger adherents in the Eranad and Valluvanad
Taluk.When the movement progressed to such an extent as to creat alarm in official
circles, the Government brought these Taluks under Sec. 144 of the criminal Procedure
Code.Meetings were banned and the police began to arrest Congress and Khilafat workers.
The police attempt to arrest one Vatakkeveettil Muhammad on a charge of having
stolen a pistol from the Nilampur palace was the immediate provocation of the
uprising.Muhammad happrned to be the local Khilafat secretary.The attempt to arrest him
by the police was foiled by a crowd of 2000 Moplahs who came out with spears and
swords, killing several policemen and driving the survivors away. The police who came in
search of the Khilafat rebels entered the Mumbaram Mosque at Tirurangadi as the rebels
had taken refuge there. In the meanwhile the news spread that the mosque was
desecrated.There upon the Moplahs converged on Tirurangadi and attacked the police
station, looted government treasuries and burnt government records. For a few weeks at
least, the writ of the British government did not run in the area.The original leaders of the
Khilafat movement whether Hindu or Muslim faded away from the scene.

In the meanwhile the nature of the rebellion changed from political to
communal.Communal terrorist leaders took up the leadership.Varian Kunnath
Kunjahammad Haji became the defact authority in Eranad and Valluvanad Taluks.Styling
himself as the Amir of the muslims, Raja of the Hindus and Colonel of the Khilafat army
he became virtually the king and began to levy taxes and issue pass ports.Seethikoya
Thangal another leader maintained law and order and issued circulars as
governor.However Ali Musaliyar the priest of the mosque although assumed the title king,
instructed his followers not to molest the Hindus or loot their property.Khilafat Raj had
become a reality.The British rule was eliminated and a rebel autocracy dominated the
region.The rebels achieved a large measure of success in extinguishing British rule.In the
later stages however the Hindus were persecuted on the ground that they allied with the
British.However, the Rebellion was crushed by the British with an iron hand.The
Government rushed British troops and Gurkha regiments.Martial law was declared.A
series of encounters had taken place, resulting in the loss of lives. By November 1921, the
Rebellion was almost crushed.The rebels were captured and shot; many were imprisoned
or deported.

A corollary to the Malabar Rebellion was the Wagon Tragedy.The arrested rebels
were dumped in to a closed railway wagon and deported to from Tirur to Bellary.On the
way from Tirur to Coimbatore (10th Nov, 1921) 61 out of 90 inmates suffered from heat
and hunger died of suffocation.This incident came to be known as the Wagon tragedy
highlighted the inhuman methods adopted by the British to suppress the Rebellion.
The Malabar Rebellion produced far reaching consequences. It gave a set back to
the freedom struggle in Malabar.After the Rebellion, the Congress lost much of its popular
appeal.For a long time after the Rebellion, no public activity was possible in Malabar.The
Hindus and the Muslims began to suspect each other lost their cordiality.It paved the way
for the growth of communalism. It also reflected in North Indian politics.

NON-CO-OPERATION AND KHILAFAT MOVEMENTS

However winds of change began to blow in Malabar when Gandhiji assumed the leadership of the Congress in the 1920’s.The non co-operation movement made considerable headway in Malabar.There was widespread boy cott of foreign goods, courts of law and educational institution in the district. The non co-operation movement synchronised itself with the Khilafat movement and thereby acquired new dimensions.To accelerate the tembo of the movement, Gandhiji and Shoukat Ali visited Malabar.The Moplahs of Malabar showed their willingness to join the freedom struggle.The Ottappalam conference of 1921 gave full support to the non co-operation movement.It was in the course of these developments that Malabar witnessed of Moplah outburst.

HOME RULE MOVEMENT.

With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, national movement received a
new impetus in Malabar.Home Rule Leagues were established in different regions in
Malabar.The DCC held annual meetings in 1916 and 1917.Malabar was visited by leaders
like Annie Beasant.Representatives from Kerala found a berth in the deputation of the
Home Rule League which visited Montague to submit their proposals for constitutions
reforms.Thus by 1919,there was considerable political activity in Malabar.However
organised work of a political natural was still in the offing.Political activity of a serious nature exited only among a few and it did not penetrated into or from the common man. Political views and campaigns were localised in Kerala until 1920’s.

CONGRESS IN MALABAR.

It was British Malabar that played a leading role in the freedom movement of the
country.The Indian National Congress had its adherents in Malabar since its formation in
1885.A few Keralites like G.P. Pillai,Chettur Sankaran Nair and Kayyur Nampiyar were
active participants of the congress movement Chettur Shankaran Nair was the President of
the Amaravathi session of the Congress in 1897, the only Malayali to achieve that rare
honour.However these Malayalis worked in their individual capacity and they never
represented Kerala as they lived and worked outside Kerala.The Congress convened a
conference in 1904 at Calicut and a D.C.C. was formed in 1908 in Malabar.Therefore till
1914, there was no remarkable activity of a political nature in Malabar.

TRAVANCORE STATE CONGRESS

The struggle for responsible government in Thiruvitamkur assumed a new turn with
the formation of the Travancore state Congress.It was felt that the Joint Political Congress
had fulfilled its objectives and a more broad based organization embracing all classes of
people should be formed to carry forward the struggle for responsible government.The
Haripura Session (1938) of the Congress endorsed the view that though congress should
abstain from active intervention in the political movements in the princely states,
independent organisations may be encouraged to carry on internal struggles. In accordance
with this resolve, a meeting held in Thiruvanantapuram in February, 1938 resolved to form
the Travancore State Congress with Pattam Thanu Pillai as its president.The new
organisation aimed at launching a movement for the achievement of responsible
government in Thiruvitamkur.

NIVARTHANA MOVEMENT.

This movement was one of the stormiest agitations in the history of modern
Thiruvithamkur.It is called the Nivarthana or Abstention agitation because the agitators
have decided to abstain from participating in the elections to the legislature.The genesis of
the Abstention movement can be traced back to the policy of discrimination followed by
the Government of Travancore in providing representation to various castes and
communities in the legislature and public services.Since the formation of the legislature in
1888, it was represented by the Savarnas while the bulk of the population comprising the
lower castes had no adequate representation in that body.As the main qualification for
voting was payment of property tax, the Avarnas got practically no representation in the
legislature.The legislative reforms of 1932 made permanent the property qualification.The
Ezhavas, the Muslims and theChristians apprehended that the new reforms, would secure
for them far less number of seats in the legislature than they were entitled to on a strict
population basis.They feared that the Nairs would get more seats than what they really
deserved.Therefore these communities demanded that they should be given representation
in the legislature in proportion to their numerical strength.
The passing of the legislative Reforms Act,1932 was the signal for the beginning of
a state wide agitation.The agitationists demanded reservation of seats to different
communities in proportion to their numerical strength.As the Government’s attitude was
not favourable the Abstentionists formed an organisation of their own to achieve their
demands.They called it Joint Political Congress or Samyuktha Rashtriya Samithi. In a
meeting held on Jan 25, 1933, the Samithi took the momentous decision to abstain from
voting in the elections to the legislature.Thus was born the Abstention agitation.As those
communities – Ezhavas,Christians and Muslims-formed about more than 2/3rds of the
population,the agitation had the characteristic of a mass struggle.The Abstentionists
carried on a vigorous agitation all over the state against the new constitutional reforms.It
was in connection with the Abstention movement that C. Kesavan delivered his famous
speech at Kozhencherry (11 May,1935) for which he was arrested and punished.
Although the government adopted a policy of repression, it conceded the demands
of the agitationists.It appointed a public service commissioner to ensure fair representation
to the backward communities in public services. It reduced the property qualification by
widening the franchise.The Government also agreed to allot a specific number of seats in the legislature for the three communities.The final outcome of this agitation was to break up the monopoly of political power enjoyed by the upper caste Hindus.It also marked the end of constitutional agitation and the beginning of direct action in politics. It also paved the way for the formation of Travancore State Congress and the Cochin State Praja Mandal. The agitation thus fulfilled its objectives.

EZHAVA MEMORIAL.

Ezhava Memorial is a memorandum submitted to the Maharaja of Travancore on
3rd Sept 1896.The Travancore Ezhava Sabha took the initiative in preparing and presenting
the memorial.It was signed by 13176 members of the Ezhava community.It pleaded for
among other things, the extension of civil rights and government jobs to members of the
lower castes and the Ezhavas in particular. It also pleaded for the opening of public
schools to the Ezhavas.It demanded that the Ezhavas be made beneficiaries of these rights
and privileges enjoyed by the converts to Christianity.The response of the government was
disappointing. Hence a second memorial was presented to the viceroy Curzon in 1900.It
enumerated the grievances of the Ezhavas and requested the viceroy’s initiative in getting
them redressed.The viceroy refused to intervene.Hence both the memorials failed to
achieve their immediate objectives.

These memorials followed the ancient Hindu customs of direct petition to the king,
yet they challenged the Maharaja’s way of governance.The agitations based on the
memorials marked the rise of the new educated middle class as a force to be reckoned
with.They symbolised the beginning of the modern political movements to be waged by
the lower classes for securing social equality and justice in Thiruvithamkur.